Like most pro anglers, Kelly Jordon resists setting the hook in practice. But he learns plenty about the quality of the fish that pick up his practice baits. And by the time competition begins, he can't wait to hammer them.
The Texan, ranked 8th in the world, employs a number of tricks to gauge the size of the bass he finds, but he doesn't leave them sore-mouthed and sulking. These practice techniques recently paid off with his FLW Tour victory at Lake Okeechobee.
Self Control
Jordon's practice time rarely involves catching bass. "The only time I catch one is when I can't tell how big they are – and that's very rare," he said.
But he also admits that a no-catch practice isn't an easy objective.
"The hardest thing is self-control," he said. "It's hard – painful even – to not set the hook. You're so ready to set the hook by the time the tournament starts."
Safeties Off
With a wink and a sly smile, Jordon often greets fellow competitors at the first-day launch with the words "safeties off." His safeties are hookless flipping baits, crankbaits with turned-in trebles and spinnerbaits with shrouded hooks.
If he's flipping in practice, he runs his line through the head of his lure – often a Lake Fork Tackle Craw Tube – and ties it to the ring of a Lake Fork Tackle Rattle.
"With that rig, I can pull them up and not hook them. Plus, I can flip into the nastiest cover and not worry about hanging up. I can really fish a lot faster with that setup.
"I also get a real feel for how they're biting. At Okeechobee, I played tug-of-war. I'd pitch back in there and they'd pick it up. Then I'd do it again, shake that rattle, and they'd hit it again. It was hilarious."
He said the fish will hold on longer than many anglers think. "I've had fish hit a hookless tube that would absolutely boil around a stump and take me to my knees and still not let go of the bait. Then, when they finally do drop it, I shake it and they'll hit it again."
Submarine Warfare
With his hookless setup, Jordon's learned how to discern between little fish and quality bites – even when he can't see them.
"There's a lot of difference in how a 2-pounder, a 4-pounder and a big one pulls," he said. "The big ones pull like a nuclear submarine. If you can feel the tail wiggling, it's less than 8 pounds. If you can't feel the tail, it's 8 pounds or better. I can tell by the throb of the tail."
When he's tossing a crankbait in practice, he leaves the hooks on the bait, but turns in the tines. "You don't want to remove them because it changes the action of the bait," he said.
He blunts his practice spinnerbaits with a Carolina Keeper – a piece of plastic that he pinches and pushes onto his hook point. "That way, you can use your best baits and not destroy them by cutting off the hooks, or wear out the wire by fighting fish."
When fishing wacky-rig worms, he bends the hook into a complete circle, so the point touches the shank.
For his practice jigs, he cuts the hooks at the bend of the shank and twists on a screw lock (like those used to hold spinnerbait trailers). He attaches a soft-plastic bait to the screw lock and pulls the weedguard from the jighead. "It's still snag-free because there's no hook, and you can pitch it back into the bad stuff and still get it back," he said.
Notable
> "In practice, I just want to get bites," Jordon said. To increase his total number of practice bites, he often downsizes his flipping line to 17- or even 14-pound test. "It's more manageable, coils less and helps me get more bites." When the tournament starts, he switches to braid or 25-pound Vanish fluorocarbon.
> He said there's really no excuse for catching fish in practice. "If you want to hook one, go ahead. Hey, we all love fishing and sometimes it's really hard to go for days without catching them. But when people say they 'accidentally' hooked fish, I just shake my head because there are lots of ways to avoid sticking them and still learn what's going on."
